A simple blog for a simple studio. A place to learn to throw clay in a group of up to 4 folks. Check back for class and workshop updates:)

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Christmas Shows in August

Okay, not quite what you might think. I am working through the craft show schedule just now trying to figure out where I can go and make my mortgage money during the christmas season without losing my shirt! How would anyone separate myself from my shirt, you ask?? The craft show ((that a fellow vendor at the Farmer's Market runs, who is very nice and sells onions and carrots with the rest of us every saturday)) has the audacity to request $720 for three days in a stall that is 10 feet by 6, almost the smallest spot they offer.

A quick calculation adding gas and food for the 125 km round trip gives me a rough total of a thousand dollars before I have sold a pot. Then you take into account the fact that clay and glazes cost a lot of money, not to mention how much of the christmas bonuses paid out to the executives at BC HYDRO comes in the form of the massive kilowatt charges that my kiln gobbles up making mugs!!

If I sell my art work for twice the price I pay for raw materials (not that that is how I figure it out) I would actually have to sell $2000 worth of pots in those three days to take home $500. Again, read previous blog rants, the money goes from your carefully guarded pocket into a lovely mug, then into my hand and then gets torn in half and given to "ENTER NAME OF RANDOM CRAFT SHOW HERE" and then bc hydro and I arm wrestle over the last few coins after the mortgage has bitten off what it could chew!

This is the real reason that I have my own show every year. This year will be the FOURTH annual Trial By Fire Pottery Show and it will be on the last weekend of November 2010. I rent the Clements Centre (who uses the money to help disabled persons and their families) and pay for some advertising and use the free ones and then each person who comes out to buy the perfect little jug for cranberry sauce {that goes in the oven to keep it hot while you mash the potatoes and then goes in the dishwasher once the sauce has been licked off the outside so that you can get on with the family stuff} I can buy more clay and stay in the mud through another winter.

I have found a couple of Christmas Shows that are affordable and well organized and have a decent of return on your investment. I will post an official list of shows where people can come and find me during November and December this year. So far I am in Christmas Chaos and the Providence Farm Christmas Show both in Duncan both very nice shows and well organized although the Christmas Chaos Craft Fair has absolutely NO WEB PRESENCE and doesn't even ruffle a feather in google.

I am going away for a while with Dave to support his Ironman Triathlon in Penticton and look forward to seeing some family during and after the event. We are going to make a trip out of it and stay with my sister in Canmore for a few days and hopefully have some nice chats over a cool beer with both of our sets of parents and siblings. For now I have to trim and handle some mugs that will dry slowly in the damp shelves while we are away and harvest the chick peas and set them in the sun to dry so I can plant them next year and grow some more. Then I have to pack for myself, the dogs and for the cat to stay here, while trying to encourage Dave to remain calm and laugh a lot so as to avoid turning into "race dave" which he hasn't been doing for the last few years. I must add lastly that I will try to relax while I am away as I have realized that working for 25 cents an hour from home has turned me into a bit of a work-a-holic who might just need a vacation with my super fit husband.

The beautiful photo was taken last winter during one of Dave's hundreds of training rides by his dad, Lloyd. So there, it does snow a little here if you get up the 'mountains' high enough!

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About Me

I have my pottery available at The Nest Collective at 20 Station Street in downtown Duncan, BC. The artisan shop is open most days from 10am to 5pm.
You can sign up for a pottery wheel class here at my pretty studio or watch FB for workshops and events. Simply call or email me.
I will be working on custom orders and dinner sets and these special requests must be sorted out directly with me. Do email if you'd like a whole set of plates or handmade mugs for your coffee shop!
I am a mother, wife, potter, an artist, a cyclist, a hiker, a teacher, an outdoor enthusiast, canoe lover, and a natural leader. Find me on Facebook under Hilary Huntley.